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Announcer: Need reliable health and wellness information? Don't listen to the guy in the cube next to you, get it from a trusted source, straight from the doctor's mouth. Here's this week's listener question on The Scope.

Interviewer: Answering this week's Listener Question is Registered Dietician, Kary Woodruff. Kary the question, "Are fad diets safe and healthy for me to be on?"

Kary: It's a great question and it's really hard to say specifically one diet is, one diet isn't. But here my recommendation is, is the diet sustainable? So is this something that you could see yourself doing, you know, one to 10 years from now? Some things to kind of consider, or red flags I should say for less healthy fad diets would be diets that cut out entire food groups, right. So if a diet cuts out greens, and dairy, and legumes, right, that would . . .

Interviewer: Like the smoothie diet's probably not a thing that you should be trying then.

Kary: Right, correct. And or a diet that asks you to eat the same thing every day. Right, that's not very sustainable.

Interviewer: Nuts.

Kary: Yeah, we get bored of it, right? So that's not going to be very sustainable. Is there something that we can do in our day to day life that includes social functions, right? So if we're avoiding social functions because it doesn't accommodate our diet, then I would challenge that's not a very sustainable approach.

Interviewer: So pretty much the answer's no, right? There are no good, safe fad diets out there?

Kary: Typically not, it usually comes back to balance, moderation, and variety.

Announcer: Have a question? Ask it. Send your listener question to hello@thescoperadio.com.

Interviewer: Healthy benefits of a vegetarian lifestyle. That's coming up next on The Scope.

Announcer: Medical news and research from University Utah physicians and specialists you can use for a happier and healthier life. You're listening to The Scope.

Interviewer: I'm with Carrie Woodruff, a registered dietician at University of Utah Health Care. So, what are some of the benefits of a vegetarian diet?

Kary: Sure, we see that people who follow a vegetarian diet tend to have lower rates of cardiovascular disease, lower risk for diabetes, for renal disease. They tend to have a healthier BMI and lower risk for obesity. And just their overall intake of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and other nutrient dense foods tends to be higher.

Interviewer: So, as many pros as there are, it sounds like, to being a vegetarian, are there any cons?

Kary: No, I don't think so. I think as long as the person is educated. Someone who follows a vegetarian diet could be at greater risk for iron deficiency, for zinc deficiency, B-12, calcium, and some other nutrients. But if they follow a well-balanced diet, and they make sure they get enough protein in their diet, and enough nutrient rich foods, then they're not going to be facing those sorts of deficiencies, and can have all the health benefits that we mentioned.

Interviewer: Do you find that people often consult with their doctor or with the dietician before making the switch to a vegetarian diet?

Kary: No, I definitely think there are some people, but not everyone does. Sometimes people just decide to do it, and they go ahead and start a diet. And then a lot of times, at least what I see as a clinical dietician, is that patients maybe did get some sort of nutrient deficiency. So maybe they're deficient in iron, or deficient in B-12, and their doctor said "Hey, you should go see a registered dietician just to make sure that you are getting all the nutrients that you need to be getting from your foods."

Interviewer: So, for someone who is a vegetarian and who is iron deficient, or not getting enough protein, or something like that, what are some sources of those nutrients that they can eat and get that way?

Kary: Sure, so iron rich foods will be our leafy green vegetables. We'll even get some iron in some nuts. Definitely legumes are going to be a good source of iron. So those will be in soy products, will have some iron. And then we'll see protein coming from soy foods, from nuts and seeds and legumes as well.

Interviewer: How about vegan diet?

Kary: Vegan diet means that they're not consuming any animal products, so it would exclude any meat, any fish, eggs, or dairy foods. And so they can be at greater risk for nutrient deficiencies. Again, someone who follows a vegan diet can be meeting all their nutrients needs. They just need to be smart about it. And a vegan diet should be supplementing with B-12. That's the one nutrient that we can only get from animal sources.

Interviewer: Any final thoughts?

Kary: Well, I think a vegetarian diet can be very healthy, have lots of benefits, it just should be done with education and be done smartly, I suppose. And so if someone is choosing a vegetarian diet, just to make sure that they're educated on what nutrients they are at risk for deficiency. And to make sure they are getting enough plant sources of those nutrients.

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Interviewer: Healthy alternatives to your classic Thanksgiving dinner. We're going to discuss that next on The Scope.

Announcer: Medical and news research from University Utah physicians specialists you can use for a happier and healthier life. You're listening to The Scope.

Interviewer: I'm with Kary Woodruff. She's a registered dietician at University of Utah health care. Kary, we'll go over the classic Thanksgiving dinner and maybe try and find some healthier alternatives for people who don't want to gain tons of weight this holiday season so let's start with the big one, turkey.

Kary: Turkey can be very healthy. It can be very lean meat, a good source of B12 and iron and other nutrients. I just suggest looking for the white meat turkey and consuming less of the dark meat.

Interviewer: So next big one and my favorite, gravy.

Kary: You know what. Again, everything in balance and moderation so if you're having a little bit of gravy on your turkey and mashed potatoes that's okay, but are you using a cupful of gravy and that would be of concern. So gravy is going to be a little bit higher in saturated fat and so it's not that we shouldn't eat it at all we just should monitor our portion size a bit.

Interviewer: Okay. Next one that a lot of people like, mashed potatoes.

Kary: Sure, you know I've seen some people mash their potatoes with the skin and that would a more healthful way to eat it because you're getting the benefits of the fiber and potassium that we find in the skin. And again it's a portion size piece so some mashed potatoes are okay it's just not consuming too much of them. And then finally just what are you adding to the mashed potatoes, right? So my mom personally adds sour cream, cream cheese and butter to her mashed potatoes...

Interviewer: Oh my.

Kary: ...so I wouldn't highly recommend that but if you're using just a little bit of one of those options and again maybe getting some skin in there and watching your portion size it can be a very healthful part of Thanksgiving dinner.

Interviewer: All right so green beans. This is the healthiest part of Thanksgiving, right? Green beans.

Kary: Oh yes and it can be and it can not be right? So they could be smothered in butter and have bacon and lots of other add-ins or they could be steamed with maybe a little bit of olive oil. Sometimes I'll serve them with just a little bit of toasted walnuts or pecans. Sometimes I've added blueberries to them and that can be a way to get more vegetables. Just avoiding the heavy use of butter and other higher fat add-ons.

Interviewer: Okay so a healthier alternative to stuffing.

Kary: I've seen stuffing made with whole wheat bread and that would be a good start. Avoiding adding lots of meat to stuffing because my thought is if you're already going to be getting some meat with the turkey maybe not adding the sausage or other bacon or other higher fat add-ins to the stuffing.

Interviewer: And then now the sweets. The sweet potato casserole.

Kary: I think those marshmallows can be optional. You know I always make them half the casserole for those who just need to have the marshmallows and then half without. You usually can get away with adding half the butter that some people add and they're still very, very tasty and so again, it's what you're adding to them. Sweet potatoes are a great source of potassium. Great source of Vitamin C. Really great source of nutrients, it's just what are we adding to them and how much are we consuming?

Interviewer: Right. Okay. Holiday staple. Pumpkin pie.

Kary: My advice to the pumpkin pie is how many times do we come to Thanksgiving dinner and we eat dinner and maybe we even eat a little bit of seconds and we are so full but then we see the pumpkin pie and think okay well I'm just going to squeeze that in and I would say you know what? Save it. Save it for later when you're not so full. It's hard to really enjoy something when you're so full and trying to add in one more thing and so maybe you save it for the next day or you save it for a couple hours later. So have some pumpkin pie. It is a special thing to have but just watch how big of a piece are you having and maybe wait until you're not so full.

Interviewer: Great suggestions. Any final thoughts with a healthier Thanksgiving?

Kary: You know, I've seen some statistics where the average calorie intake on Thanksgiving, just for dinner, not for the whole day but just for the mean can be anywhere from 2000 to 3000 calories.

Interviewer: Oh wow.

Kary: And that's a lot. I mean to put that in perspective that's if not equal to probably more than what we need for a whole days worth of calories so some tips that I have are, A, don't save up all day. Some people won't eat all day but then the challenge is by the time they get to dinner they're so hungry they can't control how much they're eating. So even if you just eat a small breakfast and a small lunch that can help to prevent us from over eating.
The second tip is again, just remember you can have it later. You can save some for later. I think we get into this mentality of oh my gosh it's the only time that I do this all year long so I have to get it all in. And keep in mind we can always make mashed potatoes some other day or make a pumpkin pie some other time or just save it for later for the next day.

Interviewer: Leftovers.

Kary: Yes, exactly.

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Interviewer: So, juicing, is it really better than nothing, or should you be actually eating the fruits and vegetables raw? We're talking with Kary Woodruff, registered dietician with the University of Utah and she's going to tell us all about that today on The Scope.

Announcer: Medical news and research from University of Utah physicians and specialists you can use for a happier and healthier life. You're listening to The Scope.

Interviewer: So Kary, I am a big believer of fruits and veggies in my diet but I am also a really big believer in the fact that my diet needs to taste good and some of the vegetables just don't taste good to me. And so, I choose to just blend it all up and if I don't see it, I can just chug it all down. Am I doing it right? Am I still good?

Kary: Yeah, it is, as you identified, it is probably better to eat the whole fruit and the whole vegetable. That being said, juicing would be a better option than not getting any fruits and vegetables at all.

Interviewer: Okay.

Kary: And I would say not all juices are created equally. So there's some ways of juicing fruits and vegetables in a way that retains the pulp.

Interviewer: Oh, okay.

Kary: Some of the more pricey juicers. They are more expensive, but they do give us more benefits like the Blendtecs or the Vitamix, because they actually retain the whole fruit and vegetable. They don't remove the pulp.

Interviewer: Okay.

Kary: Which is the really nutritious part of the fruit and vegetable.

Interviewer: So it's a . . .

Kary: So if we can retain the whole food, and not remove the pulp, then we'll be retaining more nutrients.

Interviewer: Okay. Is that seeds, everything, that's included as well, right? So like an apple?

Kary: Correct.

Interviewer: Okay. When I juice my orange, obviously the juice of it comes out, but the pulp of it still stays there because I'm juicing it by hand. From what you've just said, that's not really healthy then, is it? Or it's not as healthy.

Kary: It's not as healthy, yeah, because you're losing some of the fiber. And so when we eat foods with fiber, like the whole orange, it'll actually last longer versus something that has the fiber removed we'll feel energy pretty quickly. But then we actually feel hungry again pretty soon thereafter.

Interviewer: All the juice cleanses then out there, do you recommend those?

Kary: I do. Yeah, again, I would try and juice it in a way that's retaining the whole fruit and vegetables.

Interviewer: Okay.

Kary: And so they're juicing in a way that's retaining the whole form of the vegetable and fruit then that would be a better option.

Interviewer: Gotcha. Okay. But most of them, from what I've seen, are just the juice and that's, so stay away from that if you can.

Kary: Yeah, I would rather see people eat fruits and vegetables.

Interviewer: Okay. And then are there any kinds of fruits and veggies that are just, not only taste good together, but can really benefit your health when you put them all into a blender and you mix them all up?

Kary: Yeah, I mean I think really the more the better. There are some nutrients that do tend to help the absorption of other nutrients. But really when we see when we get a good combination of fruits and vegetables we tend to see good absorption, and good nutrient utilization. So I wouldn't get too caught up in trying to focus on two particular fruits and vegetables, and just to get a variety.

Interviewer: Okay. And then I also, there's this new trend where, when you're juicing something, when you're making a smoothie or a fruit juice or a veggie juice, they're putting in like proteins and whey and all these other products. Is that okay?

Kary: Well it depends on what the purpose of the juice is. So if it's a meal, if it's going to be a meal replacement, then there should be some protein with it.

Interviewer: Gotcha. That's okay then, to do juice as a meal.

Kary: Yeah, I mean I'd rather, again I'd rather see someone eat the fruits and vegetables and get a food source of protein, but I do understand that sometime there's a convenience factor to being able to make it and have it on the run. And so there's that, again I think when we can juice it with something that will retain the whole fruit, the whole vegetable, and then getting some protein with it. So whether someone uses a protein powder, or they could actually use a food source of protein like some Greek yoghurt, or some milk, or soymilk, could be good ways of integrating in some protein.

Interviewer: Gotcha. So what I'm hearing is its fine. It's fine to juice your fruits and veggies. It's okay.

Kary: It is. You have to make sure you're also eating them as well.

Interviewer: Okay. Is there a reason why juicing would not be good for you?

Kary: Well, it would be like if you are going to Jamba Juice and getting these extra-large Jamba Juices that have added juices for sweetness. And that's going to be simply added sugar. That's really what that translates to. And then what we see that happens with that is those can be pretty high in calories, high in the sugars, and those forms won't be healthy.

Interviewer: Gotcha. All right. So juice all you want, just make sure that the raw, the source material of the juice is still there and don't add anything bad that can cause harm to your health in the juice.

Kary: Yeah, like added sugar.

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